A blog with technical/engineerining advice, ideas and information on how to set up a multimedia ministry including configuring church video systems design, choosing video equipment such as cameras, mixers, tripods, lights, grips, dollies, production & editing techniques and media training.

If you have just started, or are thinking about starting a church video ministry, you might be considering the option of initially buying the video equipment and hiring in professionals to operate and record the church services.

While professional camera operators and a video director will be able to do their job properly, and get all the action recorded on to tape or DVD, unless they are christians, then there are a few points that you might need to bear in mind before committing to this way of producing your church video media.

Knowing the Pastor's way of ministering. Personally I think it is important that the church video director in particular and all members of the crew are familiar with the way the church leader operates. This gives them an idea of what to expect and thus have a better chance of capturing it in the heat of a church service.

Sensitive to congregation member's feelings. While the ministry's bishop might have made an annoucement that video equipment is being introduced to record services, it is still important that camera operators and the director is sensitive to people's feelings, and don't think that the only thing that matters is producing a nice product on DVD. Not everyone wants to be a TV star, nor is eveyone that comes to church a regular member (some might be unsaved and visiting for the first time), and it would not be right if someone is forced to leave the congregation because a camera keeps being shoved in their 'pretty' face every service despite them showing that they are not comfortable. I think a person's soul is worth more than that.

Appropriate shots. While it might be acceptable to show a lady's cleverage popping out of a tight top in a secular concert, you don't want to be seeing that on your church videos, and a secular professional media operator might not see the harm that this could do to a ministry's image.

Depending on your ministry's individual circumstances, there is obviously a particular image or message that you might want to portray to the TV watchers, and without having sat under the teachings of the resident pastors, this might be hard to convey across to your professional director and crew, so you need to consider carefully if this is the route that you want to take for growing or establishing your church video ministry.